Page 76 of One Savage Union

Rocco squeezes me tight and fills in the rest of the blanks. “Your father wanted her for himself and hid her. The Bratva didn’t know that he planned never to give her back. He hoped they would take a fancy to you and trade with you. He’d already started violating the girl. If the Bratva knew, they would have killed him.”

Do they know now?” I ask breathlessly.

Rocco nods. “Yes, and they want his head on a silver platter. But they also want the girl. She holds the keys to half her father’s fortune, and instead of selling her, they want to marry her off to their Pakhan. A sixty-year-old man who will use and break her. He’s known for his viciousness. He’s buried three wives already.”

I gasp, and a tear falls. “ We have to help her.”

Rocco sighs. “I wish it were that simple. As I’ve told Mario, your rescue cost us. If we take this girl, it will most certainly mean war.”

I look at my husband and squeeze his waist. “ But we have to do something!”

His eyes soften, and I know I’ve got him. Mario interrupts.

“Don’t worry, Lucia. I’m never giving her up; she’s mine. I’ll kill anyone who tries to take her. Il mio gattina’s claws are out, and she does not understand her predicament. But she will learn.”

I smile at his pet name for her—his kitten.

He nods at Rocco, and he holds her closer to his chest before marching off.

Seeing his resolve to keep her safe calms me. Mario will protect her with his life, and God help the men who try to take away his pet.